Cal Am to seek larger desal plant

SAN FRANCISCO — California American Water will seek a larger, and more expensive, desalination plant at the core of its proposed Peninsula water project, the company formally said this week.

Officials also formally said the desal plant wouldn't be ready to deliver water until the end of 2017, at the earliest, a year after a state deadline for cutting back on pumping from the Carmel River. And that's only if no major obstacles, such as litigation over water rights, slow everything down further.

Those developments emerged during hearings on the project's costs and next steps that ended Thursday at state Public Utilities Commission headquarters in San Francisco. PUC Judge Gary Weatherford called on Cal Am to outline a number of proposed changes and key updates on the project during public participation hearings on the Peninsula, scheduled for Jan. 9.

Cal Am is required to fully evaluate the impact of proposed changes and other developments in formal testimony due Jan. 11. Formal participants in the proceedings are set to deliver their own testimony in late February.

According to a Cal Am presentation, the proposed desal plant would have to be larger by about 774 acre-feet per year to more quickly replenish the Seaside aquifer after years of overpumping. The Seaside Groundwater Basin Watermaster last week cut the replenishment schedule from 50 to 25 years, requiring Cal Am to come up with more replacement water from the Peninsula water project.

Cal Am spokeswoman Catherine Bowie said company officials are still working out how much more the larger desal plant would cost, and said it would be up to the PUC to decide whether it would be warranted.

As for the delay, which had been previously acknowledged, Bowie said company officials largely blamed it on a PUC review schedule that had been extended by about 10 months last summer to allow a full environmental impact study of the project. Bowie said an anticipated delay in drilling test wells could still be made up through streamlined permitting and design, and construction timelines.

Several Peninsula interest groups participating in the PUC hearings called for extending the review period to allow for a more complete vetting of key project changes and their potential impact on the cost and timeline. Some called for conducting a full environmental review of potential alternative projects so they could be ready to go if Cal Am's project is further delayed or scuttled.

Participants in Thursday's hearing included representatives from the PUC's Division of Ratepayer Advocates, Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, the Peninsula regional water authority, city of Pacific Grove, Marina Coast Water District, LandWatch Monterey County, Citizens for Public Water and WaterPlus.

Cal Am officials continued to insist they would only consider an alternative project if "insurmountable obstacles" arise, and expressed concern about further delays in the review schedule.

Judge Weatherford said he wanted to keep the project review on schedule and saw no reason to extend it, though he invited participants to seek an extension for specific reasons. Weatherford said he was confident the PUC's environmental review team would conduct a fully adequate evaluation of the project and alternatives, noting Cal Am had already submitted detailed contingency plans.

Weatherford also said supplemental water projects proposed by the city of Pacific Grove should be evaluated in the project EIR.

Cal Am also announced it had purchased its preferred site for the desal plant, paying about $657,500 for a 46-acre parcel off Charles Benson Road near the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency's recycled water plant north of Marina.

Company officials reiterated their intention to draw source water from a shallower aquifer, rather than deeper aquifers in the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin heavily opposed by farmers concerned about the potential impact of seawater intrusion.

Marina Coast attorney Mark Fogelman said the district has control over the primary area where Cal Am is planning to drill wells, and argued Cal Am should be required to submit formal plans for using desal source water from outside the Salinas Valley basin.

Also Thursday, Cal Am attorney Sarah Leeper reported that company officials are continuing discussions with Peninsula leaders and organizations over a public participation proposal initiated by the Peninsula water authority. Weatherford said he expected a formal agreement to be placed on the record eventually, though he didn't set a deadline and suggested there could be developments forthcoming.

Peninsula water district attorney David Laredo said Cal Am officials had negotiated in "good faith,", and he expected that to continue. Laredo said he didn't think it was proper to discuss the possibility of a public ownership proposal during Thursday's hearing.